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Topic: Time to get an E-Bike - what experience can you offer a novice (Read 25344 times)

We're holidaying at Noosa Heads (QLD, Oz) at the moment and e-bike hire is common. My son has just grabbed a beach cruiser style e-bike to go exploring from the resort's stable (for now I'll be exhausting all of my energy lying on the beach).

We're actually looking to move up here and the bush trails (walking, MTB & horse riding) are amazing ... so much so that a Stealth could be in my near future

Due to all sorts of work pressures the trip to The Netherlands was postponed and so no e-bikes yet.

It appears to me that prices may have dropped slightly or maybe the 2017 models have been around long enough for the dealers to do some price reductions.

I am still keeping the make and model of e-bike open but from my research I favour the Bosch mid mounted motor.

I would be really grateful for any details of large cycle dealers in the south of The Netherlands (say south of Nijmegen) and dealers specialising in e-bikes would be particularly useful. I need to be able to try bikes out and am happy to then wait for a couple of months for new bikes to arrive.

Peter I have a friend who runs a bike shop in Southampton. Not too far from you and he would be able to offer you a lot of advice. He's very good (he runs the shop more as a hobby as he loves bikes). I'd happily introduce you.

Maybe not exactly what you are looking for @Peter but I have a RadRover fat tire bike for about 6 months now which I enjoy riding whenever I can. Only logged ~130 miles so far between the cold Winter and work but hope to get out more soon.

Peter I have a friend who runs a bike shop in Southampton. Not too far from you and he would be able to offer you a lot of advice. He's very good (he runs the shop more as a hobby as he loves bikes). I'd happily introduce you.

Maybe not exactly what you are looking for @Peter but I have a RadRover fat tire bike for about 6 months now which I enjoy riding whenever I can. Only logged ~130 miles so far between the cold Winter and work but hope to get out more soon.

Many thanks Bob but not quite the configuration that I am looking for.

Having lived in Holland for 10years as a child I loved riding my bike.

When we moved back to England I slowly stopped biking as often.

Few reasons

1. Dont feel as safe as I did in Holland 2. Everything was only a few minutes away from home on bike when living in Holland. Now in England can easily be riding my bike 30mins plus to get to where I want. 3. Hills and lots of them!

I decided last year to try and get biking again and get the bikes out.

I soon knew why I stopped lol.

So I decided to get an e-bike.

I could never find one I liked at a fair price.

I didnt want a rear or front hub motor because they are rubbish.

I wanted a mid drive motor only but they are expensive e-bikes.

So I thought we have 5 bikes why not turn them into E-bikes.

So bought a bafang 500watt mid drive motor and installed it onto one of the bikes.

It was really easy to install and it has alot of power and does last.

I now enjoy riding because when I come to a hill I turn it on and it just powers me up.

I found this was the cheapest way to install a good quality mid drive motor.

I have a dutch bike im currently awaiting another motor and Im going to stick it on the dutch bike hopefully.

First, I love that picture above - a proud Dad out on his bike with junior.

Many thanks for that information about the Bafang. We have a pair of very nice Dutch bikes already and we thought that going for a Dutch e-bike would make sense. I agree with you about the mid motor. I spent a while doing some research and came up with the same conclusion. I have even spoken to Bosch UK about it as they appear to have a very effective mid engine setup.

To bad I see this thread just now.The annual bike fair in Utrecht has only just finished in the first week of March, as you can imagine there were a lot of e-bikes on display.

I still ride a normal bike but my family in law all have one, the one thing I hear is the mid motor is the best choice. As ever, batteries need to be a quality product.But if you go for a Dutch product, I'm sure your good.

Very close to my home the Gazelle E-bike experience centre is being build in Waalwijk, maybe it is already finished.Good luck with the selection criteria!

Shimano STEPS seems to be the new cool kid in town https://shimano-steps.com and when paired with the Di2 electric hub-shifters it can be used in automatic shifting mode as well. Seems to be now a very popular setup on high-end e-bikes.

To bad I see this thread just now.The annual bike fair in Utrecht has only just finished in the first week of March, as you can imagine there were a lot of e-bikes on display.

I still ride a normal bike but my family in law all have one, the one thing I hear is the mid motor is the best choice. As ever, batteries need to be a quality product.But if you go for a Dutch product, I'm sure your good.

Very close to my home the Gazelle E-bike experience centre is being build in Waalwijk, maybe it is already finished.Good luck with the selection criteria!

Interesting that you mention the Gazelle e-bike experience centre. I was planning to go to the original Gazelle Experience Centre but then found the new E-Bike centre mentioned. I found the post code and looked at it in Google Street View but there was no sign of it. I now realise that it has only just been built and so Google has yet to catch up.

Shimano STEPS seems to be the new cool kid in town https://shimano-steps.com and when paired with the Di2 electric hub-shifters it can be used in automatic shifting mode as well. Seems to be now a very popular setup on high-end e-bikes.

Hi Reiska

There is a lot of very interesting technology going into the bikes now.

Just heard a report on the radio the other day that apparently EBikes are illegal in New York City. This should come as news to all the delivery guys who race down the streets on them. I'm sympathetic to the argument -- New York has become a much more bike friendly city in the past decade, creating dedicated bike lanes on many of its streets, but as you can imagine, those lanes are constantly being traversed by pedestrians. The EBikes can travel almost at the speed of a car (our speed limit is 25mph), and so they come up on you much more quickly than a traditional bike.

There's a legal grey area, however, which is why EBikes continue to be used in the city. Apparently when lawmakers/regulators first developed the restriction, they defined EBike as a bicycle that relied solely on motor power to drive. That left EBikes that also had a pedal option technically still legal. But in practice there is not much of a difference in terms of the speeds they can reach. My sense is that there's going to be a revisiting of the regulations pretty soon.

Just heard a report on the radio the other day that apparently EBikes are illegal in New York City. This should come as news to all the delivery guys who race down the streets on them. I'm sympathetic to the argument -- New York has become a much more bike friendly city in the past decade, creating dedicated bike lanes on many of its streets, but as you can imagine, those lanes are constantly being traversed by pedestrians. The EBikes can travel almost at the speed of a car (our speed limit is 25mph), and so they come up on you much more quickly than a traditional bike.

There's a legal grey area, however, which is why EBikes continue to be used in the city. Apparently when lawmakers/regulators first developed the restriction, they defined EBike as a bicycle that relied solely on motor power to drive. That left EBikes that also had a pedal option technically still legal. But in practice there is not much of a difference in terms of the speeds they can reach. My sense is that there's going to be a revisiting of the regulations pretty soon.

There is also the limit to a max 20 MPH speed (by Federal law) for eBikes to be classified as bicycles and not as a Moped or electric motorcycle, at least that what I remember when I was researching my purchase. State or municipal laws can modify or override that though.

I have had my RadRover for almost a year now and never once been stopped and questioned by Police or anyone, but I am not in NYC nor have I ridden in any big city for that matter.

The old arthriticiness is a bit of a nuisance and so I have decided that the time is right for an e-bike. I had to give up serious walking a while ago but I can cycle reasonable distances without too much pain. There are still some challenges which a dash of volts and amps can cure and so I am going to get an e-bike.

I would love to hear about any experiences you may have, any advice you might wish to offer and any pitfalls that I should be aware of. I already own a Dutch bike which has given me many years of excellent service and has a riding position well suited to my nagging joints. I will be looking to get an e-bike from The Netherlands as they have such good frame shapes for chaps like me.

An E-bike has a "throttle assist" power transfer: usually a twistgrip, throttle lever or the like. Twist the throttle & off you go. No pedalling required, except for hills etc.

Pedelecs have torque-sensors within the drivetrain. The level of extra energy delivered is determined by either pedalling effort or cadence. Pedelecs basically turn any mug cyclist such as myself instantly into a hill-conquering champ.

There's also a variety of assist levels available. Each legal class (Road, Speed & Race) of bike has differing Max speeds @ which assist will be cutoff, & legal statuses in different jurisdictions.

Speed pedelecs have mandatory helmet, registration & licence plate status in Germany, for instance, & as far as I'm aware Race pedelecs (with up to 80 km/hour or 50 MPH assist) are illegal to use on public roads everywhere.

The 20 mph limit in the US is greater than that allowed in Europe. We have a 25 kph or 15 mph limit on the street legal Pedelec category. There are some off road Ebikes which have a greater top speed but these are not street legal.

The way the Pedelec has to work to be legal is that the rider must be pedalling and making a contribution to the motion of the vehicle in order for the motor to make any contribution at all. The only exception to this is what is known as "walk assist" which is designed to help push an Ebike up a hill. Then the speed is limited (not sure but probably 2 or 3 mph).

A street legal Ebike in Europe demands that the rider is working all the time that the motor is operating. Once 15 mph is reached only the rider is making the machine move forward. The rider does get a decent amount of exercise but hills feel as though they are only half as steep.

My wife and I have now bought our Ebikes and use them quite often. For us we are now taking on more challenging terrain and certainly going a lot further than before.

If anyone is visiting The Netherlands then do try and find an Ebike Experience Centre. We went to the Gazelle Ebike Experience Centre in Waalwijt. It is free to get in, you can try every Ebike that Gazelle make and you get free coffee.

We spent 3 hours there and rode about 6 difference machines each. We were so impressed that we then drove to a dealer and ordered a pair of Ebikes. They were ready before we had to start our return journey home.

The 20 mph limit in the US is greater than that allowed in Europe. We have a 25 kph or 15 mph limit on the street legal Pedelec category. There are some off road Ebikes which have a greater top speed but these are not street legal.

I don't know exactly about the rules and international nomenclature of Ebikes these days, because here in Holland we basically call everything Ebikes.

But I've noticed the last year or so there's a new category of Ebikes that require a license plate and a helmet, and I believe you can go up to 50 kph max. Happens often enough to me I ride on my standard touring bike at 40 kph and such an electric bike passes me like I'm not even moving.

Just saw this thread. I've had an Optibike for 3 years. They are on the pricier side but it has been awesome.Built like a tank and can be driven in two different modes. Eco which is plenty fast and fun even with a bigger rider.The other mode is fast, very fast. Like 40 MPH but feels under control because the frame and suspension arebuilt so well. Not sure if they are available everywhere, the company is located in Colorado.

Stuck for a present for our son for Christmas .. we ended up getting him a Giant Dirt-E. I wasn't a fan of a motor located in the bottom bracket area and the extra stress on the chain drive but I'm a convert (at least for this class of bike). The pedelec sensitivity is very smooth and natural .. and the Yamaha motor seems to have excellent torque - very obviously tuned down to the local restrictions.

We'll probably get a couple more of these (one for the wife and I, only hers in the Liv format).

Christmas actually turned out to be bikes all round ... Jane got a Liv Langma with Ultegra and I treated myself to a new Giant TCR with Dura-Ace and the new integrated power meters (without pedals it was under 7kgs - and that's for a bike with disc brakes!)

I've dismantled my dodgy kitted e-bike experiment and put the old CFM1 back to "normal" ... I rate the experiment as a success, but determined the trick is to buy a quality production e-bike

This site is perfect if you want to do a DIY build of an existing bike you treasure (or just have). Lots of info on components types and quality, many examples of builds from really crude to rather sublime.

Lunacycle is a US bike builder who buys bikes wholesale from the manufacturers and then "builds them" for you - often at prices significantly cheaper than if you buy an ebike from an ebike manufacturer, and even cheaper than if you bought the bike and components separately. Probably wouldn't make sense to ship from them to Europe, but again - a lot of bike info there.

KTM recently announce that they are "all in" on ebikes, and that the distinction between bicycles, ebikes, and electric motorcycles is going to blur very quickly. They have had an excellent electric dirt bike in testing for a few years now.

Apparently in Europe the proliferation of bikes and scooters has caused regulators to have a significant advance or lead in developing rules of the road regarding ebikes. There are several classes developed based around pedal only, pedal assist, pedal assist with throttle, or full throttle bikes.

In the US it's mostly still the wild west - with only a few jurisdictions even knowing this stuff exists. Generally if it still looks like a bicycle and you don't act like a fool you can ride most places. This will change over the next several years as bad actors cause problems that get noticed by authorities.

I've been lusting after one for a year or so - but the one that I want costs so much I really have to justify that I'll use it enough for it to make sense to buy.

Best of luck

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"We, the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible, for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, that we are now qualified to do almost anything, with nothing at all."